I’m excited to be returning to Vegas to speak at the 29th Annual Las Vegas CLE Seminar.  This year, my presentation topic is “The Non-Linear Relationship of Value-Based Marketing.”  I’ll provide perspectives on value-based marketing.  During the presentation, I’ll illustrate a technique I developed to increase exposure on multiple social media and traditional media resources without significantly increasing the time required to do so.

In today’s environment, it’s important to utilize social media differently than what we may have done in the past.  It’s your message that matters most.  Where it shows up is a close second.  You’ll learn practical steps to increase your brand exposure, while maintaining brand positioning.

This presentation is on the topic of using podcast episodes as a way to produce quality content for the firm.  Many larger firms are still sending out newsletters.  However, a podcast provides the attorney (or a group of attorneys) an opportunity to discuss a particular topic at a much deeper level.  It highlights the expertise of the firm and is more interactive than a blog post or newsletter article.  Firms with multiple practice groups can easily use a custom-branded podcast to promote various attorneys or specific areas of knowledge.

Audio content is growing in popularity for many reasons, which is explained in the presentation.  A timeline of Google’s interest and promotion of podcast content will be included.

Jim Ray has focused on law firm online marketing since 2004.  In 2014, he launched his regional, small business consulting firm, Jim Ray Consulting Services.  Clients often ask him to assist with content creation including written, video-based and podcasts formats.  He manages online marketing efforts for clients including vendor negotiation and coordination.

Jim earned his MBA from Bellarmine University in 2008.  One of the most impactful quotes he’s ever heard was by a speaker who asked the audience, “Do you want to be a good presenter or an effective communicator?”  He has developed a career helping people communicate with their target audiences more effectively.

A leak can do tremendous damage before you know it.

The competitive environment for law firms is ever changing. If you’ve ever had a leaking pipe in your house, you understand tremendous damage can be done before you even know there’s a problem. Your competition continues to make moves that may catch you off guard. The damage can be severe if those moves go undetected.

In business, you’re either moving forward or sliding backwards. Standing still is not an option.

Over the past week, I’ve noticed that national, family law firm Cordell & Cordell has launched a new television campaign. Here’s a link to the commercial in the Louisville market (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMNClTsNDfo). If you search YouTube for their firm, you’ll see that they launched their 3^rd YouTube channel approximately 1 week ago. They already have 2 other channels with a ton of videos.

What I found interesting is that their new channel has state-specific “bundles” that appear to be the same videos, simply formatted for the individual states. This is actually an interesting way to rapidly deploy a uniform, marketing campaign. For those of you in Kentucky personal injury, I’d expect Morgan & Morgan to do something similar.

I point this out for several reasons. First and foremost, we’re about to begin the 4^th quarter of the year. If your caseload is down, it’s time to investigate your competition to see if they’ve quietly changed a tactic or implemented new tools to gain market share. Remember the leaky pipe that slowly, quietly does a ton of damage? If you’re not tracking your local competitors, you might miss some tools you could incorporate into your own strategy and combat the competitive attack.

Second, you don’t have to re-invent the wheel. In the case of Cordell & Cordell’s videos, take a look at the ones that seem to have a lot of views. Could you update your videos and/or on-page content to address a similar topic? Put your unique perspective to work and launch some new content. Again, standing still is not an option. You may already be leaking clients, as well as revenue.

Third, remember to cluster or group your content assets. Just having a single page of content on a topic may not be enough. There are always related topics that can be addressed. This is even more important if the topic is a highly competitive area of law. You and your prospective clients may be thinking about the same type of case, but they may use different terms or be focused on a sub-topic issue. By creating content clusters (both in text-based and video-based content), you’ll have a better chance of appearing relevant to the search engines (e.g. Google) and your clients. Oh, and don’t forget to create several internal page links so the content creates a web of informaton.

If your house has a leaky pipe, the sooner you do something about it the better off you’ll be. If your firm is leaking clients and revenue because of a competitor’s new tactic, it could cost you much more.

For more free information and tips to help grow your practice, subscribe to my firm’s Facebook page. If you’re ready to change your marketing tactics, let’s assess your competitive environment and begin implementing a plan to grow your firm’s business. My phone number is (502) 208-9639.

The elevator speech is a simple, concise tool you can use to start conversations.  It’s extremely helpful when networking, especially at social gatherings.  Maybe you’ve heard the term “elevator speech” but haven’t actually developed one for yourself.  The brief video, below, provides some information about the idea, it’s primary objective, and how you can use it to open the door to new clients.

I gave another CLE at the Louisville Bar Association focused on helping attorneys to grow their practices.  The presentation was titled:  Selling 101 – Proven Methods to Increase Your Client Base.  One of the topics focused on the importance of an elevator speech.

The concept is simple.  Assume you and another person are on an elevator.  As the doors close, the person asks, “So, what do you do?”  You know there’s only a brief moment to explain it, but you have to do it in a way that engages the person.  Your elevator speech should be a concise description.  Most importantly, however, it should elicit a follow up question such as, “That’s interesting, how to you do that?” or “Hmmm, what kind of clients to you have?”

Remember, you don’t have a lot of time, so finding a way to stand out – or to become “memorable” – opens the door to a potential new client.  A quick exchanging of business cards, maybe a request to grab coffee, or some other way to begin a conversation is full of potential.

An elevator speech can be extremely effective a social events.  You don’t want to aggressively “work the room,” but a few extended conversations may lead to important business relationships down the road.  Always keep in mind that your next lead may be someone this person knows (e.g. a colleague, family member, etc.).

I usually recommend that you practice your elevator speech until it’s clear and consistent.  Once you have it down, try it out on some friends to see if it makes sense.  If your description is so vague that it confused the person, you can refine it.  Better to have some “test runs” before you actually use it with someone you don’t know.

The below video is an excerpt from my recent CLE presentation.  I hope you’ll find it helpful as you continue to grow your client base.  An elevator speech is just the beginning.  For more information on business development for your law firm or small business, feel free to read the other posts on my blog.  If you have specific questions, please contact me on my cell phone at (502) 208-9639.  I’d be happy to arrange on opportunity to meet with you.

Adding a LinkedIn Post can help your Google Ranking.  I’ve blogged about the advantages social media can have on your overall campaign. This weekend, I saw a strong example. Google pays attention to LinkedIn posts. This article will provide a couple of tips and examples to help you increase your online visibility.

I uploaded a video to my YouTube channel a month ago. The next day, I uploaded a LinkedIn post to my profile. The video made it to Google’s 1st page in 2 days. A month later, I now see both the video AND my LinkedIn post on the 1st page. This proves what I’ve been saying all along. There are definite advantages to implementing social media into your overall marketing campaign.

LinkedIn Post Appearing on Google’s 1st Page

Creating effective, insightful content takes effort.  It can be disheartening to see all of that work yield poor results. One way to avoid that is to systematically re-publish your content on other online channels. Blog posts are a great way to drive visibility for your website. However, if your competition is high, you may find it tough to break through. When you publish your content across multiple channels (e.g. a LinkedIn post, a YouTube video, etc.) you increase the likelihood that it’ll be seen by a broader audience.

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